


Coffee and Therapy

by theredplace



Category: Death Note & Related Fandoms, Death Note (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Alternate Universe - No Death Note, Group Therapy, Happy Ending, Implied/Referenced Cheating, M/M, Mental Health Issues, Mentioned Amane Misa, Misunderstandings, Takada Kiyomi is Their Group Therapist, Therapy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-23
Updated: 2020-12-23
Packaged: 2021-03-11 02:48:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,191
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28217973
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theredplace/pseuds/theredplace
Summary: Light sees L, his ex, at group therapy and he isn't happy about it.
Relationships: L/Yagami Light
Comments: 2
Kudos: 36





	Coffee and Therapy

Light walked casually through the double glass door of the therapy center. He gave a quick wave to the receptionist, and was rewarded with a polite smile in return. Light sipped on his coffee, taking his time to enjoy the hot drink even though he didn’t need the energy boost. 

He entered the buzzing therapy room and stopped at the doorway, looking over the people in it. L was sitting at the far end, reading his book and nursing his coffee.

Light blinked a few times, not exactly trusting his eyes. He rubbed them with his fingertips and looked again. L was still reading. 

He couldn’t believe his goddamn ex was in his therapy group.

His eyes lingered on L for a second as he counted the people present. There were 8 people in the group, a few more than usual. This was going to be an interesting session.

He sighed and strutted down the left side of the room, making a clicking noise with his tongue. Light stopped a few seats down from L and sat down. 

L peered up at him over the top of his book, their eyes locking for a second before L looked away to continue reading. Light carried on with clicking his tongue — a nervous tick, and he switched to his fingers as he drummed on the arm of the chair and hummed a tune under his breath, waiting for the session to start so that he could get this over and done with.

L skimmed a few lines and then put his book down to look back up at Light, finding that he had a desperate urge to. 

Light looked back at him, and a smile slid over his face as he believed that he was starting to see a little spark of recognition in L’s eyes. At least he wasn’t going to pretend like Light didn’t exist. He stared at L for a few seconds longer before he resumed his tapping on the arm of the chair. He couldn’t help but to check L out as the session got underway.

A leather jacket, 6 inch long hair, a plain white t-shirt, jeans, and heavy boots. L must be trying to live a little after all this time, but then again, he also wore those trendy sunglasses that people never seemed to take off their face, so he wasn’t too surprised. He knew that Light attended these groups, so this was no accident.

“So what is it you guys do here?” L asked the entire group, but his question was mocking and Light knew it. 

“Funny,” Light commented dryly.

“Light,” the group therapist chastised, “this is L and he is new to the group.” A small chorus of “hi, L”s sounded throughout the room from the other patients. “I’m the group therapist, Kiyomi,” she introduced herself, “so, L, do you want to tell us about yourself? Why did you join our group today?”

Light could feel the corners of his mouth twisting downwards into a frown as he heard L snicker at him. Kiyomi’s voice sounded far away as L’s laughter echoed around his head, and he was doing his best to stay calm. He knew that it was unwise to confront L in public and especially not in the presence of his peers. Light could get kicked out of the group.

“I came here because I’m feeling really shitty,” L explained bluntly. “Haven’t felt this lousy in ages,” he chuckled. 

“Well,” Kiyomi began seriously, “that’s a valid reason for coming here. We are all here because we’re struggling. I can say for all of us that we’re proud of you for making the first step towards bettering your mental health. That’s a hard thing to do.”

Light opened his mouth to interject, but he wasn’t sure what to say. He would just look like an ass if he did that. Light knew L wasn’t here for “help” because he knew that he didn’t believe in therapy, or at least that therapy wouldn’t “work on him”, as L used to say.

Light felt like he was being watched. He can’t help but feel like L is looking right at him, yet he wasn’t. His eyes landed back on L who was leaning back in his chair, stroking his long fingers over the top of his book. He looked like he was bored.

“So are there any questions that anyone has for you?” Kiyomi asked the group, looking around the room for any participants. When no one said anything, she continued. “L, are you ready to answer a few questions?” Looks like she had to break the ice.

She waited for L to respond and when he didn’t, she looked back at Light, and then back at L, who was still sitting in silence. Kiyomi noticed a tension between the two of them.

“If you guys don’t mind, I’ll just enjoy my coffee for the remainder of the session,” L said as he nursed his cup.

“Well,” she said awkwardly, “if you ever feel like speaking up, don’t hesitate,” Kiyomi quickly moved on. “We’ll move onto you, Light.” After a few moments of silence, Kiyomi asked Light if he wanted to share what had been weighing him down recently. Light shrugged and folded his arms.

“I don’t know if I should go back to school or what I should do. I was pretty sure that I wasn’t going to go back, at least not for a while, but now I don’t know anymore. I want to do something that I enjoy, but I just don’t know what that is right now.” Light sat up straighter as he ran out of steam, and he rested his palms on his legs to keep himself in check. 

He wasn’t going to let L ruin this program for him. The therapy had been helping him, and he wanted to be even better. The words he had just spoken had been pulling at his chest for the past few days and he was finally ready to say them out loud. Light took a deep breath and looked to Kiyomi.

“I don’t know if I’m doing anything with my life right now. I’m not sure if I’m doing it wrong by not being as responsible as my friends. I know that I can’t be twenty one forever, but I also don’t feel that I’ve lived right up until now,” Light said. He was feeling better already, even with L’s eyes now boring into him.

“That’s a difficult identity crisis to go through; not knowing who you are,” Kiyomi replied smoothly, “but now that you’re confronting it, I know that the issue will be less grim.” Light nodded to himself as he looked down at his feet. “You want to be successful, but don’t lose sight of what is important.” Light nodded again, more to himself than her, as his mind drifted back to his ex.

The thought of L had been bothering him all week, but he was doing his best to keep himself calm. Light thought back to when they were a couple: the light hearted flirting, falling in love, and then… it all came crashing down. They were both so young when they ended it, but nothing lasts forever. Light doesn’t regret his time with L, but he knew it was over. Three years later, the sight of L still caused raw pain to slice through his heart.

Light tilted his head as he continued thinking about L. He realized Kiyomi and the rest of the group were eerily silent. He looked up to see that they were all looking at him. Light flushed and looked away. Did he say that last part out loud?

Amongst a group of people, he should know better than to open his mouth about L with the man sitting a few seats away from him.

Light touched the scarf around his throat, and for some reason, L’s voice continued to echo in his head like an annoying song. Light sighed, shaking his head to try and rid himself of it.

“Light,” Kiyomi said. The group therapist looked so concerned, her eyes inching higher and higher on her face. 

Light realized that he was biting his nails, and he quickly suppressed that habit. He looked around the room, but everybody was already talking amongst themselves, or looking at him curiously, so he decided to let them be.

“Uh,” Light muttered. “I…” He didn’t know how to continue the sentence. “I want to stay in the program, but my mom really wants me to go back to school. I don’t think she gets me at all,” Light ended lamely. Kiyomi and him sat in silence for a few moments. Light didn’t like the look of pity on her face. Kiyomi’s voice broke the short silence.

“You originally came here because you were depressed about your breakup, right?” she asked. Light nodded. “And now your ex is in the room with us. Why didn’t you say anything?” Kiyomi then glanced over at L, who looked… stoic.

“Um…” He honestly didn’t have an answer for that. Light didn’t know why he didn’t tell L to leave, or why he didn’t go to Kiyomi about it. He just knew that he had a knot in his stomach the moment he saw L. Light withheld a groan and looked down into his hands. He got himself to stop biting his nails only to start maddeningly drumming his fingers.

“It’s hard to speak to your old partner. It brings up old pains and the unpleasantries that come with that,” Kiyomi said.

Light looked up to see L staring intently at him. 

“No it isn’t,” Light said in a harsher tone than he had intended.

L turned to leave the room and Light didn’t know what to do, so he just sat by himself, looking at the carpet while chewing his bottom lip, the muscles in his neck twitching. He tried not to let his voice give him away, but the sound of his own whining was too much to keep a lid on.

“In the future,” Kiyomi started, “when you think about your ex, try and be mindful of the reasons why you broke up.”

Light bit the insides of his cheeks before he stood up to follow L outside. He knew this was a bad idea, but after everything he did, he couldn’t help but to still love him at the end of the day.

“L!” he called, finding him smoking outside at the entrance of the building. Light tried to ignore the fluttering of his heart as L turned to look his way. L merely looked at him with his usual stoicism. Light trembled, but he decided to speak first. “Why did you really come here?”

L dropped his eyes to his cigarette, his fingers white as he gripped it. A moment of silence passed before he spoke.

“I never cheated on you. Misa had lied to everyone. I was never intimate with her, and when you believed it…” his throat momentarily closed up, “ I tried to deal with it on my own, but I couldn’t, so… I did what you did: I seeked help. You just happened to be in the same group as me is all,” he finally answered.

Light felt like he had just been stabbed through the gut. He could tell that L wasn’t lying. A lie from a horrible girl had caused all of this pain and misery… Light was angry both towards Misa for fabricating the lie, and towards himself for believing it.

“Misunderstandings happen to the best of us,” L mumbled, taking a drag of his cigarette as he saw the realization flash across his face. 3 years too late, but at least he eventually came to the truth, L supposed.

“I’m sorry…” Light muttered. “I don’t know what else to say…” The two stood together awkwardly for a few moments.

L finished up the rest of his cigarette before stepping on the butt of it. He moved to cup Light’s cheeks before pressing a tender kiss to his forehead.

“One for old time’s sake,” he joked. “I forgive you.”

Light watched with guilt ridden eyes as L walked began to walk away from him.

“L,” Light quickly caught L’s hand. “I…” he blew a nervous breath. “I… Even though with everything that happened… or didn’t happen I guess, I… I love you… I never stopped.” L was as stiff as a board. “I know I don’t deserve a second chance, and I don’t expect to receive one, but… I just needed to tell you that.” He then let go of L’s hand, the hand he had held so many times years ago. 

L didn’t move for a second, and it worried Light.

“Come here…” L spoke softly, turning around and opening his arms to beckon Light closer. A small smile curved his lips, and Light practically ran into L’s arms. He buried his face into his chest, inhaling the scent of L’s that he missed so much. “Looks like therapy does solve a few problems,” L mused.

“Told you.”


End file.
